Ranking all four Disney Descendants movies from worst to best

The fourth Disney Descendants movie is now available to stream on Disney+. It’s another fun, nostalgic ride into the world of Disney princesses and princes. This time, we even get the connection to the Brandy Cinderella movie.

The first three movies focused on the children of Maleficent, Evil Queen, Cruella, and Jafar. The fourth movie is a spin-off, with Uma, the daughter of Ursula, now the principal of Audoran Prep. The other characters have moved on in life, and there’s a focus on the descendants of other Disney villains and heroes.

Just how do the four movies rank? Of course, you’ll still want to watch them in order, but you’ll have an idea of what to expect knowing the ranking. Here’s my ranking of all four Disney Descendants movies from worst to best.

4. Descendants 2

Don’t get me wrong. I actually enjoy all the movies, but the second one is the weakest of the lot for me personally. It struggles to live up to the hype of the first movie, and it backtracks on some development of the children of the villains a little. That being said, it’s still packed with great songs and a good storyline to make you want to watch the next movies.

I do love the introduction of China Ann McClain as Uma, and there is a great story of Mal losing her identity and trying to fit in. I just wish we had more Evie, Carlos, and Jay.

3. Descendants: Rise of Red

The latest movie is a spin-off, set years after the third Descendants movie. I’ll give this movie its due. While I did miss some of the original cast, keeping Uma in and making her the principal was the perfect touch. I also loved the inclusion of Brandy’s Cinderella and adored the tribute to Cameron Boyce.

The spin-off continued some important messages from the first trilogy. One of those is that we are not the product of our parents. Just because they are evil, doesn’t mean we have to be. However, it also doesn’t mean that a person can’t be saved. This movie is filled with time travel to prevent events from happening so the Queen of Hearts doesn’t become evil, and it’s clear that there is more to the story that allows for a sequel.

2. Descendants

The first movie kicked off the franchise, and it was great. The songs were wonderful, and the choice of villains to give us the children of made a lot of sense. While we had a couple of major villains to Disney princesses, I also adored the use of Jafar and Cruella to remind us that there are a lot of other villains out there.

The movie also cast the perfect people as the adult villains. Kristin Chenoweth captures everything that Maleficent really is, and now I can’t imagine anyone else playing her. It did make it harder to accept Mars as a younger version of her in the fourth movie.

1. Descendants 3

My favorite of the lot has to be the third movie. While the second struggled to break free from the expectations of the first, the third one brought us Cheyenne Jackson as a Hades that was very much like the one we’ve come to know and love in Hercules. Hades has always been one of my favorite villains, so I was immediately sold.

The third movie gave each of the characters more screen time and furthered their stories, rather than just Mal’s. It also brought the story full circle, while setting up the hope for spin-offs. It did neatly close things for all characters we’d come to know, so while we wanted more, we knew we didn’t need more.